British retailer Marks & Spencer on Tuesday promoted food boss Stuart Machin and strategy chief Katie Bickerstaffe as part of a major shake-up of its leadership team's responsibilities.
M&S said the changes reflected the clothing and food group moving on from the "fixing the basics" phase of its latest turnaround plan to a phase that will see it reinvest and restore growth.
Machin (pictured right) and Bickerstaffe (pictured left) will become joint chief operating officers, reporting to CEO Steve Rowe.
Machin will continue as managing director of food but also take oversight responsibility for operations, property, store development and IT.
Bickerstaffe will oversee the data, services, clothing and home and international businesses.
Other Management Changes
M&S said finance chief Eoin Tonge will also take on strategy and transformation planning.
It said Sacha Berendji, currently retail, operations and property director, will move to focus on the future of M&S's store estate.
Richard Price and Paul Friston will remain as managing directors of clothing and home and international respectively.
M&S was struggling to reinvent itself after decades of failed attempts before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
'The Next Phase'
CEO Steve Rowe, commented, "Over the last three years we have built a great team of people at M&S and covered a lot of ground. Now we need to move into the next phase, and that means accelerating the pace of change, and Stuart [Machin] and Katie [Bickerstaffe] will bring even more impetus to our core businesses. With that I will, with Eoin’s support, be better able to concentrate on building the M&S of the future and our path to growth."
A year ago it said the crisis would indelibly change its business and it would speed-up its latest turnaround plan, delivering three years of change in one.
In August of last year, M&S cut 7,000 jobs and in November it reported the first loss in its 94 years as a publicly listed company.
